Is this Netanyahu's last stand?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2021
⏱️ 33 minutes
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Summary
The fifteen year rule of Benjamin Netanyahu could come to an end this Sunday if a newly formed coalition government survives a vote of confidence. What will it mean for Israel if Netanyahu loses power? And what do we know about the man and the coalition set to replace him?
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Guest: Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips from: BBC, ITV, Al Jazeera, Reuters, France 24, PBS.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Sunday, the Israeli Parliament will hold a vote of confidence on a newly formed government. |
| 0:10.0 | A move which if successful will unseat the country's longest-serving leader, Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| 0:18.0 | But this isn't the first time his position has been under threat. |
| 0:21.0 | He's a brilliant political leader. He knows how to stay in power. |
| 0:27.0 | With a slew of corruption cases mounting against him, how has Netanyahu managed to stay in power for so long? |
| 0:35.0 | He created an impression of the entire world as against us and then took credit for it when he was discovered that it would be old. |
| 0:43.0 | The world isn't against us. He made Israelis feel dependent on him. |
| 0:48.0 | You're listening to stories of our times from the times and the Sunday times by Manvin Rana. |
| 0:59.0 | Today is this Netanyahu's last stand. |
| 1:03.0 | Israel does look set for a dramatic change with Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who's dominated its political scene and foreign relations for over a decade pushed into opposition. |
| 1:14.0 | Yeah, you're a leopard and aft Ali Bennett and Mansour Abbas. They are the new faces of Israel's top leadership. |
| 1:21.0 | And that government will have the widest possible range of ideologies spanning the entire spectrum from left to right, the only sweet spot being their shared desire to topple Mr. Netanyahu. |
| 1:37.0 | Last week, a photo of three smiling men shook the world. It went viral on social media and featured in newspapers and on TV channels all over the globe. |
| 1:49.0 | It showed three middle-aged Israeli men smiling around a coffee table, leaning in towards each other to make sure they're all in frame. |
| 1:58.0 | It looked like a reunion of old friends. But even a few weeks ago, this picture would have seemed impossible. |
| 2:06.0 | From among the three, one man is an Islamist Arab and another a right-wing Jew. |
| 2:13.0 | The only thing bringing them together was a desire to unseat the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. |
| 2:21.0 | This picture is the signing of a coalition agreement. |
| 2:26.0 | Gil Hoffman is the chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. |
| 2:37.0 | We in Israel have been trying to get the government formed for two and a half years. |
| 2:44.0 | And during this entire time, we've had a political deadlock because a majority of the people in Israel agree with Netanyahu's policies. |
| 2:55.0 | But a majority of the people in Israel do not want him to continue as prime minister and there has been over the last few months an effort to bring him down using new ways. |
... |
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